/ Man sentenced for stealing brother-in-law's savings

A man who snuck into his ex wife’s house every week for three years in order to steal cash from his brother-in-law has been sentenced.

Bernard Young (19/06/1965), of no fixed address, admitted six counts of fraud by false representation at an earlier hearing.

At Liverpool Crown Court on Friday 22 February 2013, he was given a 12 month prison sentence suspended for two years.

The victim in this case is a 68-year-old man. Due to him living alone his sister, Young’s ex-wife, became a signatory on his account. She would make weekly withdrawals of about £160, which she would use to buy his shopping and other essentials.

Young knew how much was usually withdrawn and from January 2007, began stealing the bank card on an almost weekly basis and making withdrawals of the same amount so as not to arouse suspicion.

He would then keep the money for himself.

Young split from his wife in 2009, but unbeknown to her, still had a key to the home on Bank Street, Golborne.

Over a further three years, Young frequently broke into the house using his key, usually in the early hours of the morning. He would then take the card, withdraw cash from a nearby ATM and return it straight away.

The card was kept in her handbag and on occasion he would sneak into his ex-wife’s room while she was asleep and take it. This resulted in his ex-wife having nightmares, believing she had seen a figure in her room.
Young has admitted that it was him stealing the bank card.

Over a six year period he stole a total of £30,280.00 - his brother-in-law’s life savings.

His crime only came to light when Young’s ex-wife went to withdraw some cash for her brother and found he had insufficient funds.

Young spent £20,000 of that cash on a barge boat and at the time of his arrest was living on Crook Marina, Wigan. He also refurbished the barge.

The barge boat has been restrained along with other property under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), pending a POCA hearing which will take place in due course.

Police Constable Sarah Langley, of the Volume Fraud Team, said: “The further we delved into Young’s actions, the more astounded we became at his shameless behaviour.

“Not only did he steal from his brother-in-law while he was living with his ex-wife, he continued to do so for three years afterwards by breaking into her home on what was probably in excess of 100 times.

“His theft was calculated and malicious. He was particular about the amounts he withdrew in a blatant attempt to not arouse suspicion and he did this simply in order to carry on as long as possible.

“To that end he was successful because he only got caught out when the well ran dry and he had stolen his brother-in-law’s life savings.

“He has been sentenced for his actions today and we have restrained his barge in an attempt to recoup what we can of the victim’s lost cash.”